The Entrepreneurs

Applications now open for SBE Australia’s early-stage E3 Program for female led founders

Written by Natasha Polczynski

Building upon last year’s success of the E3 program, SBE Australia have now opened up applications to all female founders

2017 SBE Australia E3 Program cohort

SYDNEY - 07 June 2018

Applications are now open for the SBE AustraliaE3: Empower, Evolve, Escalate Program to find the next generation of early-stage startup female founders. The program will take place across Sydney, Wagga Wagga, Melbourne, and Perth.

Given the huge increase in female founders across a broader spectrum of entrepreneurship including life sciences and engineering, the program is now expanding nationally to a range of disciplines.

Kerri Lee Sinclair, Chair of SBE Australia said, “We’re excited to see the significant increase in female entrepreneurs across a broad range of sectors, which is why we’ve extended our E3 Program to provide guidance to any women establishing businesses in traditionally male-dominated environments.”

“A key part of the E3 Program is working across the SBE network and with other entrepreneurs to focus their business idea from an early stage and to understand the real potential they have to build a high-growth business,” she added.

Australian startups contribute approximately $164 billion to Australia’s economy[1]. Out of this $164 billion, venture-backed female startup founders represent just 17%[2] - a figure that hasn’t grown over the last five years.

Ainslie Williams, co-founder of Qualie - a self-service insight platform that allows corporate marketers to conduct quick and affordable qual/quant research - and E3 program alumnae, said, “The SBE Australia E3 Program deepened my understanding of the startup world to help move Qualie towards Series A funding and in doing so, triple our revenue in just one year.”

“The value of the program is not just gaining access to SBE Australia’s network but it is really motivating and comforting to know that the cohort are experiencing the same startup issues as you. The E3 Program provided me with invaluable insights which helped me get out of the day-to-day and think more strategically about the business which in turn helped me guide Qualie to where it is today,” said Williams.

The E3 Program was launched last year as an eight-week educational workshop designed to equip female founders with the skills and confidence they need to build investor-ready businesses.

The program is open nationally and includes up to eight weeks of coaching and will be delivered in Sydney, Wagga Wagga, Melbourne, and Perth as well as the option to partake in a four-week intensive weekend course in Melbourne.

SBE Australia also runs its later stage Springboard Enterprises Accelerator program which is the only global female-focused startup accelerator that do not take an equity stake. The Springboard program has been running in Australia for over 5 years and has had 45 women raise over $200m to date.

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